Chapter Twelve:
Whitepaw burst through the trees, her pelt bristling and her fear scent twice it's normal capacity. Please tell me he's here... Please, StarClan, let Acornpaw be here...
"Whitepaw! You made it!"
The excited purr of Acornpaw danced through the trees before his muscular body shifted the ferns and his image appeared in Whitepaw's line of sight. When his amber eyes set upon her, the light orange tom bounded over to her, purring loudly as he sat down beside Whitepaw with a bright smile on his face. "I didn't think you'd come!"
"I could say the same thing to you!" Whitepaw meowed playfully, trying to seem as though she had been waiting for ages in this place.
Acornpaw's eyes flashed with hurt and apology. "I'm sorry, but Littlesplash kept nagging me about where I was going and when I would be back to camp. I would've been here sooner had it not been for her, Whitepaw."
At his words Whitepaw let out a small warm purr. Of course his mother would want to know where he was going -he was with a medicine cat, after all. "Does... Does she know you're here with me?" Whitepaw asked after a few moments of silence.
"No, she doesn't." Acornpaw replied with his watchful amber eyes scanning the scenery around him. He was watching anything but her, for the sake of himself.
"I don't know whether that's good or bad." Whitepaw joked with a flick of her tail to make it settle on top of Acornpaw's. She gasped and drew it away sharply. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to-"
Acornpaw captured her tail-tip with his own, twining them so they were one. "No, it's fine." he mewed, his amber eyes flashing with devotion and some else Whitepaw didn't recognize. "Keep it there. It keeps my own tail from freezing off in the coming leafbare chills."
Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what it does... Whitepaw thought hastily, though she held her tongue on the thought and spoke about something else. "So... How'd you manage to get out of camp without Littlesplash following your every move?"
"Well," Acornpaw meowed, settling down on the barren and slightly frosted ground beneath him. He was laying on his belly with his tail still twined with Whitepaw's. "I told her that I was going to make dirt, then she didn't believe me. Then I decided to tell her that I was going to be a night-stalker, which made me tell her that I was going to stalk some birds and bring them back for breakfast in the morning." He let out a small laugh at his own plan. "It didn't work out very well, so I just snuck through some bushes until I smelled your scent. I followed it all the way here, and now here I am with you."
Whitepaw, despite the sharp pounding in her chest from her heart, leaned forward and licked Acornpaw on his muzzle without a single thought. The light orange tom stared at her for a moment, his amber gaze full of shock before the shock dissipated and turned into love. He let out a loud and warm purr and pressed his muzzle fiercely against Whitepaw's.
"I wish you were a warrior apprentice..." Acornpaw whispered against Whitepaw's muzzle. "Then this wouldn't be so bad..."
"Then this wouldn't be against the code." Whitepaw murmured, casting Acornpaw a loving glance.
Acornpaw sighed and drew away, staring into Whitepaw's eyes. "This can't happen between us." He meowed sadly, flattening his ears to his head. "Not while you're a medicine cat."
"I've got to stay one," Whitepaw stated boldly. "I can't let Skystorm down by leaving her."
Acornpaw blinked at her before saying, "We could always run away together. Be loners, just like Blackpaw wants."
"You... You would do that?"
"Of course I would." Acornpaw meowed, placing his warm paw overtop of Whitepaw's. "I would do anything to be with you, Whitepaw..."
The light orange tom was sincere, Whitepaw realized. He meant what he said, and Whitepaw believed him. "But what will Cliffstar say? And Skystorm?"
"Don't worry about them," Acornpaw meowed, dismissing the thought completely. "You shouldn't have been a medicine cat in the first place, Whitepaw. You should've been a warrior's apprentice... I should've gone out to be a warrior myself in the beginning. Perhaps things could've been different if I had chosen my true destiny the first time."
"Your destiny?" Whitepaw said, flicking an ear. "Acornpaw, what are you talking about?"
He studied her for a moment. "I'm a part of a prophecy, Whitepaw. A prophecy that was foretold long before I was born, one that was given to the cats of StarClan eons ago... I guess they wanted to wait until I had become a medicine cat apprentice to speak of it amongst themselves, and then share it with me at the half-moon ceremony.
"StarClan told me I should have became a warrior apprentice instead of a medicine cat. They said I had the heart of a medicine cat, yet I had the swiftness and cleverness to be a warrior. At first I thought mockery about me being a tom, one who is supposed to be a warrior, but instead taking the path of a medicine cat. I called them cowards, said they didn't know what they were talking about... They sent me out, back to the cave without another word. They came to Sleetstar, spilling everything I had told them onto him... Making me a warrior apprentice was the best and worst thing to ever happen to me..." Acornpaw's eyes were distant as he recalled the memories.
"At the next half-moon, the day before your apprentice ceremony, I visited StarClan by myself. Skystorm hadn't came, none of the other medicine cats had either. I was alone, doing my duty to my ancestors and visiting them all on my own.
"They spoke of my prophecy for the first time that night. It was this:
Through the waters Great Guardian shall rise to quell the fighting alone it's song will fail. O, Chosen One, into thine paws you must bring three. To destroy and conquer as the masters of sea."
"What does that mean?" Whitepaw asked, her eyes growing wide. "And what does it have to do with you?"
"You're the Chosen One, Whitepaw." Acornpaw meowed simply. "And I am your Guardian."
"My Guardian? Acornpaw, I don't understand..."
"You and I were meant to be together, as cats and as spirits. We live different lives, yet we are the same in spirit. With me, Whitepaw, you can make the warrior code right again. With me, you can stop the tyranny that has shaped the Clans... You can make them full of life again. You can be Whitestar, just like you've always dreamed..."
"But..." Whitepaw paused in her sentence, taking a shaking breath and digging her nose into Acornpaw's warm fur to try and calm herself down. "How in StarClan am I going to save the Clans and you from danger?"
"You have others that bear the Mark of Ages, Whitepaw. You are the Mark of Fate. I am the Mark of Loyalty. You must find three more that bear the marks of Courage, Fearlessness, and Integrity. Only then will we save the Clans as one." Acornpaw meowed, licking her ear in comfort.
"How am I supposed to find them?"
"You will know when the time comes, my love. But until then, we must try and get Cliffstar to make you a warrior apprentice."
"Okay." Whitepaw meowed and raised her chin high, feeling Acornpaw's warm pelt against hers. "Let's go back to camp before Cliffstar claws us for not being back for dawn patrol."